Caltnen.
A NARRATIVE OF THE SECOND
VOYAGE OF VASCO DA
GAMA TO CALICUT.
1502.
of
IRev. Ib. (L Scabbing, '2X3D,
to tbe Xibtatg
of tbe
of Toronto
1901
Catam
A DUTCH NARRATIVE OF THE SECOND VOYAGE
OF VASCO DA GAMA TO
CALICUT
Printel) at grxttoerp circa 1504
WITH INTRODUCTION AND TRANSLATION
BY J. Ph. BERJEAU
ALDI
LONDON
BASIL MONTAGU PICKERING
196 PICCADILLY
1874
\
JntroDuction.
HE name of Vafco da Gama is not even
mentioned in the following narrative, but
there is no doubt it applies to the fecond
voyage of the great navigator to India ; and
as the book is no tranflation of any previous work in
Portuguefe, Spanim, or Italian, we muft come to the
conclufion it was written by a Dutch officer or failor,
who took an active part in the expedition. The dates,
events, and places mentioned agree with all we know
of the fecond voyage of the Portuguefe Admiral, whilft
our narrative, until now unnoticed by bibliographers,
fupplies interefting details unmentioned by* Gall
Ramufio, Caftanheda, Faria, Barros, &c^
Some ten years ago a well-known Dibijopm'le, who
had the book, afked me to tranflate it for him into
French ; I did fo haftily, and was not quite fatisfied
with my tranflation. But having had lately the good
fortune to find again the original and my tranflation
bound together in the Britifh Mufeum, and the truftees
of the great Englifh national library having kindly
allowed me to take a fac-fimile of it, I am enabled to
offer the public a reproduction of this interefting docu-
ment, with an improved tranflation into Englifh.
The book begins with a cc hors d'oeuvre " perfonal
to the writer, and relating to one of the unfortunate
expeditions undertaken by the Portuguefe on the coaft
of Barbary againft the celebrated BarbarofTa, but that
is difpofed of in half a page.
In fo early a narrative of voyage in countries un-
known to the author, it was to be expected the names
of places could not be accurately written ; but with a
little trouble it is eafy to reconcile the fpelling with the
modern names.
Thus, the firft land feen after the departure from
Lifbon, on the loth of February, 1 502, is called Kenan,
which undoubtedly is Cape Non on the weft coaft of
Africa, oppofite the Canaries. The name of Cape
Verde, the next ftation, is omitted, but its diftance from
Portugal accurately ftated. On the 29th of March
the expedition loft fight of the Polar ftar, and on the
2nd of April they were under the Line, and in the
fouthern hemifphere a week later.
Then, they were beaten about by a ftorm which
during twelve days drove them out of their track.
Another heavy ftorm caught them about the ftormy
cape mifnamed that of Good Hope.
On the 1 4th of June they arrived before Scafal
(Sofala), in Kaffir-land, which our author calls the Pae-
pian's country, very likely from the kingdom of Sabia,
near by. Vafco da Gama went to Sofala with only
four mips, the remainder of his fleet having been
ordered to fail direct for Mozambique, which our author
calls Mifkebijc.
On the following i8th of July they left Sofala for
Hylo, which is a mifprint, later corrected in the book
as Kyle?, for Quiloa, where the king was obliged to pay
tribute and homage to the King of Portugal.
Melinda, where they mould have arrived on the 2Oth
of July, is the next flopping place ; but they miffed it
and went to the cape of Saint Mary, which muft be
the Ras Mory, forming the eaftern point of the Ifland
of Socotra, and whofe Arabic name anfwers to Cape
Saint Mary. The ifland was then mainly inhabited
by Greek Chriftians. L'abbe Prevoft, "Hiftoire des
Voyages," vol. i. p. 80 (La Haye, 1 747, 4), fays: " Mais
un vent impetueux le pouffa huit lieues au-dela de cette
ville dans une baye, ou il trouva plufieurs vaifleaux
Mores et quelques-uns de Calecut dont il fe faifit."
There, our author fays, they left the country of the
Paepians ; for Kaffir-land was at that time fuppofed
to reach Abyffinia in the north and the Cape on the
fouth, and they failed for Marabia, no doubt a mifprint
for Iram-Arabia.
On Auguft 2 1 ft they faw for the firft time the land
of India and the great city of Combaen, the Cambaeth
of Marco Polo, the modern Cambay, on the river
Cobar (Saubermattee).
The next ftation, called Oan, is no doubt Goa, where
the Portuguefe come into collifion with the Indians,
take 400 mips, and burn them after having killed their
defenders. The ifland of Auidibe^ where they took
water and landed 300 of their invalids, is Anjeedeeva,
which for a long time after was a ftation where all the
Portuguefe mips called before touching the continent
of India.
The Montebyl of our author, in the kingdom of
Cannaer (Cananor), is the Mount Ely of Marco Polo.
There they watched for the Mecca mips, attacked the
Merit, plundered it, killed and burnt all the people on
board, on the i ft of October.
Our author does not fay that in this action, fo dif-
honourable for the memory of Vafco da Gama, the
children from the captured mips were faved and
brought on board the Admiral's caravel, as it was
affirmed later by other hiftorians.
On the 2yth of October they failed from Cananor,
and arrived at Calcoen (in Sanfcrit Khalikhodon, in
Englifh Calicut), where they fought during three days
againft the troops of the Samudrya-radjd (the king of
the fea-fhore), whom early European writers call the
Zamorin. Then, already, Flemim merchants, who
had come through Egypt or Perfia, were eftablifhed
in Calicut, as it is ftated in King Manoel's " Copia
de una lettera," (Roma, 1505) : Vi fono mercadati
d' tutte qlle parti e d' mercantia como Bruges I Flan-
dria, Venetia I Italia."
The barbarous device reforted to by Vafco da Gama
of fending adrift towards the town a (hip loaded with
the cut heads, hands, and feet of his prifoners of war,
has been related and cenfured as it deferves by later
hiftorians of the expedition.
The kingdom of Granor, mentioned as fituate
between Calcoen (Calicut) and Kujfchain (Cochin)
is no doubt that of Travancore, where our author
fays there were a great number of Chriftians and
Jews, living under the fame prince. Like all early
travellers tfb India, Vafco da Gama and his companions
miftook the feclators of Brama and Bouddha for
Chriftians, becaufe they wor (hipped the images of the
Virgin Mary brought in the Portuguefe mips, mif-
taking them for the reprefentation of Maha Madja
holding in her lap her fon Shakya. The fimilarity of the
name of the Indian goddefs, no lefs than the aureolas
furrounding the heads of the mother and fon, in-
duced the Portuguefe to make the fame miftake when
they entered a native temple. No doubt there were
at this time in the Indian Peninfula a certain number
of Neftorians, but not fo large as the Portuguefe
imagined. The figures of 25,000 Chriftians and 300
Chriftian churches given by our author as eftablifhed
at Coloen (Culan, Quilom), as well as the repugnance
of the fo-called Chriftians to deal, eat, or drink with
perfons of another creed, clearly fhow the miftake.
The town mentioned from hearfay as Lapis is Me-
liapour near Madras, where, according to a mediaeval
tradition, St. Thomas the Apoftle was put to death,
whilfl another fays it was in the town of Calamina,
whence his body was tranfported to Edefla, which our
author calls Ediffen, ftating it is four days* diftant from
Meliapour. The Portuguefe maintain that having
found the body of the faint in the ruins of the latter
town, they carried it to Goa, where it is ftill worfhipped;
but this aflertion is fubftantiated by very (lender
proofs indeed.
Our author calls the betel, tombour ; whilft Alvaro
Velho names it atambor, both being mifnomers, from
the page carrying the box which contains it being
called tombuldar.
The civet-cat is fo clearly defcribed that it was im-
poflible not to tranflate by mujc the word iubot, although
it is not to be found in any old or modern Flemifh or
Dutch dictionary.
In relating the fecond battle which Vafco da Gama,
on his return from Cochin, fought with a fingle fhip
againft the king of Calicut on the 1 2th of February,
1503, the Dutch narrator does not mention the timely
arrival of Vicente Sodre, who with the remainder of
the fleet decided the aclion, and prevented the defeat
of Vafco da Gama. While the latter began his return
voyage to Portugal, Sodre remained behind to blockade
the Red Sea.
Whether the two iflands, which the returning expedi-
tion fighted on the 26th of March, were the famous male
and female iflands of Marco Polo, which have never
been found fince the days of the Venetian traveller, is
uncertain ; for Vafco da Gama, on account of the
valuable goods which rilled his fhip, would not land
there in fpite of the incitements of the inhabitants.
The day of the return to Portugal is not mentioned
by our author.
To fum up: this Dutch narrative, tranflated as liter-
ally as poflible from the original, fixes many of the dates
and facls already known, whilft, as faid before, it fup-
plies many new interefting details of the fecond voyage
which the great Portuguefe navigator made round the
Cape of Good Hope.
The original book here reprinted, is noted in the
Catalogue of the Britifh Mufeum as printed at Ant-
werp in i5<D4(?), which may be afcertained by the com-
parifon of the types with thofe of books printed at
the fame place and date, and the condition of the
engraving of the Crucifixion at the end of the book,
merely to fill a page, and which mows this peculiarity,
that the infcription on the fcroll, <f Deus q pro redep-
tide" is reverfed ; whilft the word INRI, at the top of
the crofs, is not reverfed. The map of Africa fup-
plied at the beginning of this Introduction, mowing
the two lakes where the Nile takes its fource, does not
belong to the book itfelf, but is taken from c< Ptolemaei
C. Tabula noua totius orbis," Lugduni 1541 fol.
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Calicut
HIS is the voyage which a man wrote
himfelf, how far he failed with feventy
{hips from the river of Lifbon, in Por-
tugal, to go to Calicut in India, and this
occurred in the year 1501. And they failed along
the coaft of Barbary, and came before a town called
Mefkebijl, 1 and were there defeated with great lofs
and difhonour, and we loft there many Chriftians,
whofe fouls God muft have had. This battle took
place the day of St. James, of the above faid year.
That caftle is one mile from the town called
Oeraen, 2 and there come many wicked Chriftian mer-
chants from Venice and Genoa, and they fell to the
Turks fuits of armour, arquebufles, and ammunition
to fight againft the Chriftians, and they have there
their ftaple.
I was fix months on the coaft of Barbary, and
fuffered much mifery in the Straits. 3
Mers el Kebir.
2 Oran.
3 Of Gibraltar?
In the year 1502, on the loth day of February, we
failed from the river of Lifbon, and took our courfe
to India.
The firft land which we found was called Kenan, 1
and there are many iflands which moftly belong to the
King of Spain, and they are well 200 miles from
Portugal.
We failed thence, and directed our courfe to fouth-
eaft, and arrived at the cape, 2 near which we had
remained, and it is well 500 miles from Portugal.
The people there walk ftark naked, men and women,
and they are black. And they have no fhame, for
they wear no clothes, and the women have converfe
with their men like monkeys, and they know neither
good nor evil.
On the fth day of March we directed our courfe
by fouth-weft, 100 miles out at fea.
On the 29th day of March we were failing at leaft
1,200 miles from Portugal, and there we loft fight of
the Great Bear, and the fun was above our head, fo
that we could not fee the fhadow of anything, nor
any mark in the fky on the 2nd day of April.
In that fea we faw fifties flying with the birds, as
far as a man may fhoot with a crofs bow ; and they
are as big as a mackerel, a herring, or a pilcher. And
1 Cape Nun, on the coaft oppofite the Canaries.
2 Cape de Verde.
during a courfe of at leaft 300 miles, we faw black
gulls with white throats ; their tail is like that of a
fwan, and they are bigger than wood pigeons ; they
were catching the flying fifties as they were flying.
On the 1 1 th of April we were fo far, that precifely
at noon we faw the fun to the north.
At the fame time we had in the fky no mark which
could help us, neither fun nor moon, but our compafs
and our maps.
Then we came to another fea, where there was
nothing living, neither fifh nor flefh, nor anything elfe.
On the 2Oth day of April the wind turned againft
us, and lafted five weeks, driving us a thoufand miles
out of the direct route, and we were fairly twelve days
without fighting any land or fand.
On the 22nd day of May, there was winter there,
and the days lafted only eight hours ; and there was a
great ftorm of rain, hail, fnow, thunder and lightning.
The fky was open towards the Cape of Good Hope,
and there was a ftorm. When we were arrived near
the Cape, we directed our courfe to the north-eaft.
On the loth day of June we could fee neither the
Great Bear nor the Polar Star, and we did not know
the fky, which threw us in great perplexity.
On the 1 4th of June we arrived before a town
called Scafal, 1 and there we afked to buy and fell ;
1 Sofala.
D
but they would not allow it to us, becaufe the inhabi-
tants felt great anxieties from the fide of the Paepians'
river ; l there flows a river from the country of the
Paepians, 2 for the country of the Paepians 3 is fituate in
the interior of that country, fhut by the walls, and
they have no other iflue towards the fea than the
river of Scafal, and they were difturbed with anxiety
left we might difcover that road ; becaufe the King
of Scafal was then making war againft the Paepians.
For we fpoke with the people of the Paepians'
country, who had been made prifoners, and were their
flave people ; for the Paepians' country abounds in
filver, gold, precious ftones and riches, and this king-
dom is 400 miles from the Cape of Good Hope.
Thence we failed for an ifland called Miikebijc, 4
and it is 200 miles from Scafal, and the country is
called Maerabite, and there they do not know money,
but they exchange gold and filver for other goods.
On the 1 8th of July we failed thence and arrived
in a kingdom called Hylo, 5 and here is a king very
rich, and him we compelled to pay 1,500 matcals
annually to the King of Portugal ; each matcall is
worth in Flemifh money 9^4 pence. He has, more-
over, from the fame king a banner, as a mark that he
1 Zara or Cuama.
2 Sabia, between the Cape and 20 S. 3 Kaffir land.
4 Mozambique. 5 Quiloa.
recognifes him for his fovereign. But when the king
came out from his court, they threw water and fmall
branches over his head, and they were very merry and
clapped their hands, and fung and danced. The
king and all the people, men and women, walk
naked, but they have a piece of fluff round their
loins, and they go every day to warn themfelves in
the fea. There are here oxen without horns, but
they have like a faddle on their back. There are alfo
fheep with big tails as there were never fuch, and the
tail is better than the half of the iheep. There are
alfo crows which are black and white ; there grow
alfo onions which are nearly two palms wide.
On the 2oth of July we failed thence, and arrived
in an ifland called Melinda, 1 which is 100 miles from
Kilo. But we miffed it, and went to the Cape of Saint
Mary. 2 There we put our things in order, and we
had ftill to crofs a gulf which is well 700 miles
wide. There we left the country of the Paepians, 3
and arrived before the country of Marabia, 4 and it
was the joth day of July. And after having failed
100 miles, we fhaped our courfe to the north-eaft.
It mufl be known that there is winter all the time
from April to September, and then the wind blows
1 Melinda, not an ifland. 2 Ras Mory, Socotra.
3 In early maps Caffraria is limited by Abyffinia.
4 Irani-Arabia?
from the fouth-eaft during the whole time ; and from
September to April it is fummer, and the wind blows
during the whole time from the north-eaft, from each
a half year. And as is the wind fo is the current,
and the fummer is of a very bad kind, for I fufFered
by it for a whole year.
On the 5th day of Auguft we faw the Polar Star,
and were very glad of it, for we were ftill more than
500 miles from India.
In fifteen days we failed acrofs the great gulf of
770 miles, and it was on the 21 ft day of Auguft we
faw the land of India, and faw a great city called
Combaen, 1 and it is a large trading town, and it is
fituate near the country of Caldea or Babylon, on the
river of Cobar. 2
Near the land beyond High Arabia is the town of
Mecha, where is buried Mahomet, the devil of the
pagans ; and the town is 600 miles from the eaft,
whence fpices, pearls, and precious ftones are brought
to our country after crofting a gulf.
We panned beyond a town called Oan, 3 and there is
a king ; this king has at leaft 8,000 horfes and 700
elephants of war alone in his country ; and each town
has his own king, and we took 400 {hips from Oan,
and we killed the people and burnt the fhips.
Thence we failed and arrived in an ifland called
1 Cambay. 2 Saubermattce. 3 Goa.
Avidibe ; * there we took in water and wood, and we
Janded at leaft 300 of our invalids, and we killed a
lizard which was at leaft five feet long.
On the nth day of September we arrived in a
kingdom called Cannaer, 2 and it is (ituate near a chain
of mountains called Montebyl, 3 and there we watched
the mips of Meccha, and they are mips which carry
the fpices which come to our country, and we fpoiled
the woods, fo that the King of Portugal alone mould
get fpices from there. But it was impoflible for us to
accomplim our defign. Neverthelefs at the fame time
we took a Meccha (hip, on board of which were 380
men and many women and children, and we took from
it at leaft 1 2,000 ducats and at leaft 10,000 more worth
of goods, and we burnt the fhip and all the people on
board with gun powder, on the firft day of October.
Here alfo are ftags, which have alfo large horns
which rife ftraight from their head, and they are
twifted like a fcrew.
On the 2oth day of October we went to the
country of Cannaer, 4 and bought there all kinds of
fpices, and the king came in great ftate, bringing with
him two elephants and feveral ftrange animals which
I cannot name.
On the 2 yth day of October we failed thence, and
1 Anjcedeeva.
3 Mont Ely of Marco Polo.
2 Cananor.
4 Cananor,
arrived in a kingdom called Calcoen, 1 which is 40
miles from Cannaer, and we muftered our forces before
the town, and we fought with them during three days,
and we took a great number of people, and we hanged
them to the yards of the mips, and taking them down,
we cut off their hands, feet, and heads ; and we took one
of their mips and threw into it the hands, feet, and
heads, and we wrote a letter, which we put on a ftick,
and we left that (hip to go a-drift towards the land.
We took there a fhip which we put on fire, and burnt
many of the fubjects of the king.
On the 2nd day of November we failed from
Calcoen 60 miles to a kingdom called CufTchain; 2
and between thefe two towns is a Chriftian kingdom
called Granor, 3 and there are many good Chriftians ;
and in this kingdom live many Jews, and they have
a prince there. You underftand that all the Jews of
the country are alfo fubjects of the fame prince. And
the Chriftians have nothing to do with any body, and
they are good Chriftians. They neither fell nor buy
anything during the confecrated days, and they neither
eat nor drink with anybody but Chriftians. They
willingly came to our mips with fowls and fheep, and
caufed us to make good cheer. They had juft fent
priefts to the pope at Rome to know the true faith.
On the 28th day of November we went to the
1 Calicut. 2 Cochin. 3 Travancore.
country of Cuflcha'in to fpeak with the king ; and
the king came to us in great ftate, bringing with him
fix war elephants ; for he has many elephants in his
country, and many ftrange animals which I do not
know. Then our chiefs which we had with us
fpoke to the king, in order to buy fpices and other
things.
On the 3rd day of January we failed thence for a
town which is called Coloen, 1 and there came many
good Chriftians, and they filled two of our mips with
fpices; and there are nearly 25,000 Chriftians, and
they paid us a tribute like the Jews. There are
nearly 300 Chriftian churches, and they bear the
names of the apoftles and other faints. Fifty miles
from Coloen is an ifland which is called Steloun, 2
where is to be found the beft cinnamon which can be
met with.
Six days from Coloen is a town which is called
Lapis, 3 and near by is Saint Thomas in the fea. It is
there that for a fortnight about the time of his feftival
the fea may be patted on foot, and they give the facra-
ment to all who are worthy to receive it, and refufe it
to the unworthy. And this place is four days diftant
from the great city of Ediflen, 4 where he built the large
palace. But this above-mentioned town of Lapis is
1 Culan, Quilom. 2 Ceylon. 3 Meliapour.
4 Edefle.
for the moft part ruined, and the Chriftians inhabit it
on condition of paying a tribute, and everybody, in-
cluding the king and the queen, walk naked, with the
exception of their loins, which are covered.
Eight hundred miles from Coloen is a large town
called Melatk, 1 whence come the beft cloves and
nutmegs, valuable goods, and precious ftones.
The people of this country have black teeth, becaufe
they eat the leaves of the trees and a white thing like
chalk actually with the leaves, and it comes from it
that the teeth become black, and that is called tom-
bour, 2 and they carry it always with them wherever
they go or are travelling. The pepper grows as the
vine does in our country.
There are in the country cats as big as our foxes,
and it is from them that the mufk comes, and it is
very dear, for a cat is worth 100 ducats, and the
mufk grows between his legs, under his tail.
Ginger grows as a reed, and cinnamon as a willow ;
and every year they ftrip the cinnamon from its bark,
however thin it is, and the youngeft is the better.
The true fummer is in December and January.
On the 1 2th of February we fought with the king
of Calcoen, who had thirty-five fhips, befides the row-
ing boats. In each of thefe boats were about fixty to
feventy men, and we had no more than twenty-two
1 Malacca? 2 Betel.
men, and with that, thanks to God, we beat them ;
and we took two large mips, and flaughtered all the
people that were in them, and burnt the mips before
the town of Calcoen, where the king was prefent ; and
the next day we failed for Cannaer, and prepared
everything to return to Portugal. That happened in
1503, the 1 2th day of February.
On the 22nd day of March, after the fetting of the
fun, it was on the north, and the i3th day of March
we had loft the polar ftar.
On the 26th day of March we made out two iflands,
but we did not choofe to land there, becaufe we were
loaded with valuable goods, and as the people of the
country faw that we would not land, they lighted a
large fire to attract us.
On the loth of April we faw again the country of
the Paepians, and then we had been forty-eight days
in the gulf.
On the i jth day of April we faw the country of
Meikebail, 1 previoufly mentioned, and we remained
there till the i6th day of June, and thence we failed
again ; and that is the time when the days are
fhorteft.
There is a great kingdom called Coloen, previoufly
defcribed. There the pearls grow in a kind of oyfter
in the fea ; but the fea is no more than four to feven
1 Mozambique.
E
fathoms deep, and there are fifhermen who fifh them
with wooden bafkets. They put the bafltets in their
mouth or on their nofe, and then go down under the
water, where they may remain nearly a quarter of an
hour, and when they have caught fomething they
come back to the furface, and fo on.
On the 1 4th day of June bread and victuals began
to fail us, and we ftill were nearly 1,780 miles from
Lifbon.
On the joth day of June we found an ifland, where
we killed at leaft 300 men, and we caught many of
them, and we took there water and departed thence on
the i ft day of Auguft.
On the i jth day of Auguft we faw again the polar
ftar, and we ftill were well 600 miles from Portugal.
. In the year 1502 the infidels loft 180 mips ; but if
the mips had not been loft, we mould have been very
badly off, for they were our enemies.
And thus we came back healthy and fafe to Por-
tugal.
DEO GRATIAS.
PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS,
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.
G
401
G2C2
Calcoen
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